State announces unfunded mandate, Bedford could receive reimbursement

Monday

Mar 13, 2017 at 5:56 PMMar 13, 2017 at 5:56 PM

Jesse Collings

On Feb. 14, State Auditor Suzanne Bump announced that the state's early voting law imposed an unfunded mandate on local governments. As an unfunded mandate, towns can now apply to be reimbursed for the expenses incurred during the early voting period.

“The early voting law certainly is to be regarded a success,” Bump said in a statement. “It did, however, mandate new procedures for clerks. Some of these should be paid for by the state, not municipalities according to the Local Mandate Law.”

An unfunded mandate is a statute or regulation that requires a state or local government to perform certain actions, with no money provided for fulfilling the requirements. The early voting law, which went into effect for the 2016 November election, was not originally funded by the state government, requiring local municipal governments to foot the bill.

"We spent about an extra $10,000 because of the early voting law," Bedford Town Clerk Doreen Tremblay said. "That extra money went to additional supplies that were necessary for voting, as well as staffing."

Early voting allowed registered voters to arrive at polling stations throughout the week leading up to an election, making it easier for citizens to attend polling stations. For an election that is expected to have a high turnout, such as a presidential election, early voting allows citizens to avoid waiting in long lines to vote on election day.

"Early voting was very popular in Bedford," Tremblay said. "We had about 30 percent of our voters participate in early voting, which was higher than we anticipated."

In Bedford, 3,206 ballots out of 10,143 registered voters, or 32 percent, were cast during early voting. The town provided early voting for 10 days leading up to the election. While other towns offered weekend dates, Bedford instead had polling Monday through Friday with two additional times set up on Tuesday nights. As a whole, early voting accounted for roughly one-third of all ballots cast in Massachusetts.

Due to the additional cost the town originally paid to conduct early voting, Tremblay assumed that there would be an unfunded mandate issued from the state.

"I figured that the state would issue a reimbursement effort," Tremblay said. "If we apply, I don't think it would be for the $10,000 we spent, but rather for the $6,000 or so we spent on materials."

Tremblay has not decided if the town should apply for the reimbursement, citing a busy schedule with Town Elections taking place on Saturday, March 11 and Town Meeting taking place on March 27.